WCPE's Education Fund: FAQ

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Q: What is the WCPE Educational Fund?
A: The Educational Fund was created to help WCPE sponsor and organize classical music educational events and experiences in the community.

Q: How can I contribute to this fund?
A: When you make a membership gift to The Classical Station, you can forgo a thank-you gift and choose, instead, to contribute a portion of your membership gift to the WCPE Educational Fund.

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Q: What portion of my gift will go toward the Educational Fund, if I choose to participate?
A: Ten percent of your gift will be added to this fund.

Q: Is there a minimum donation requirement?
A: Only with membership gifts of $50 or more may a contributor choose to support the Educational Fund.

Q: How much of my gift is tax deductible if I forgo a thank-you gift and choose to contribute to the Educational Fund?
A: The entire value of your membership gift will be tax deductible when you contribute to the Educational Fund. In contrast, when you choose to request a thank-you gift, the fair market value of the gift is not tax deductible.

Q: How can I check on the Educational Fund to see how large it is or for what it has been used?
A: There are two places you can find out about the progress of the Educational Fund. You will find updates in our member magazine, Quarter Notes, in Tara Lynn’s column called “Eye on Education.” Additionally, as there is information to report about the fund, we will add updates to this site. We expect to begin offering updates about one month after the active portion of the Spring Membership Drive, ending May 2, 2010.

Q: What are some examples of what WCPE hopes to do with the Educational Fund?
A: There are many different experiences we would like to create in our community. To begin, we hope to sponsor educational concerts and provide free admission to children. We want to host events where children can explore musical instruments with their hands. Others will allow them to explore classical music with their ears alone, or sometimes with their whole bodies. We want to engage all of the five senses and encourage reactions. While many of these events will cater to children, we hope to also provide opportunities for the elderly and for the special needs community. We even plan to help provide quality music lessons for low-income students through some of the non-profit organizations already in-place.

Q: Who decides how WCPE uses the Educational Fund?
A: WCPE has set up a committee to work on event selection and coordination which will include both staff members and non-staff persons with appropriate experience.

Q: Should I contact WCPE if I know of a student who needs classical music educational materials?
A: The Educational Fund was designed to bolster the non-profits organizations who share our mission, already at work in our community. We will be working to increase involvement in those educational channels. Unfortunately, by law, we are not permitted to give funds to individuals, though we may be able to direct you to a community resource that can help.

Q: Why is this project a restricted fund?
A: This is a restricted fund because it does not draw from WCPE’s General Fund. Its contents are provided only by donors who elect to put some of their gift into the fund. These are the only monies available to the Educational Fund committee.

Q: If I have more questions, whom should I contact?
A: If you have further questions, or suggestions for FAQ topics, please email TaraLynn@theclassicalstation.org.

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Meet the Committee Members

Jack Gartner

Jack Gartner was born and lived in New York City (Queens) until he and his wife moved to Durham. He graduated from Queens

College as a History major in 1961. He is a past president of the Queens College Alumni Association.

Jack has spent more than 45 years in aviation and the airport management industry. Thirty five of those years were in the port authority of NY and NJ, and most of those years were at John F Kennedy International Airport. When he retired, Jack was Assistant Director for Operations, Maintenance and Security for LaGuardia, Newark and JFK airports. For the past thirteen years, he has been doing a variety of assignments as an aviation consultant.

Since moving to Durham in 1999, Jack has done volunteer work with the Triangle’s classical radio station, WCPE, and for the North Carolina Symphony; been a student and instructor at the Osher Life Long Learning Institute at Duke (“How Airports Work”); Chaired the Lifestyles Curriculum Committee at OLLI; a member of OLLI’s 30th anniversary planning committee and is presently past president of the OLLI Board of Advisors.

Jack lives in Durham with his wife Rita (also an OLLI member). He is extremely fortunate that his son, daughter-in-law, and two grandsons also live in Durham.

Frank Schiermeier

Frank graduated from St. Louis University with degrees in mathematics and meteorology, and did doctoral work in meteorology at Pennsylvania State University. Following a three-year stint in the Air Force, he spent 35 years with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency, the last 18 years of which he served as Director of an EPA air pollution research Division.

At various times, he chaired environmental agreements with Japan, Canada, Russia and NATO, and is currently an honorary lifetime member of the NATO Committee on Science for Peace and Security.

Since retirement in 2001, Frank has been active with the local Chapter of the American Meteorological Society, the Finance and Development Committee of the NC State University Encore Program, the American Legion, and with WCPE as a volunteer. Frank lives in Cary with his wife, Marilyn, who is also a volunteer at WCPE.

Anne Scoggin

Anne Scoggin presently teaches piano at the Music House in Louisburg and Music Academy South in Wake Forest. She is also Organist/Choir director at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Louisburg.

What is her association with WCPE?

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“I’ve been a listener to WCPE for years; however, the station didn’t mean anything to me personally until one eventful night. Shortly after my husband’s death, my Sheltie and I huddled together in terror in the darkness during Hurricane Fran. All night, heavy winds pounded the house, downed trees and snapped power lines. During all of this, WCPE‘s broadcast never failed and supplied the comfort and courage I needed to get through the night. That unforgettable experience made me realize how vital WCPE is to my life.”

Carolyn Zahnow

Carolyn Zahnow has many roles: author of “Save the Teens: Preventing suicide, depression and addiction,” facilitator and founder of Wake Forest Survivors of Suicide support group and communications manager at the Pope Center for Higher Education Policy. Carolyn also is an advocate for adolescents, teens and young adults. She speaks at schools and libraries sharing information about the signs of teen depression and substance abuse. She has volunteered at WCPE since 2006. Carolyn lives in Youngsville with her husband Dan and their dog, Sheila.

Rae Weaver

Formerly from New York and Ann Arbor, MI, Rae is a graduate of the University of Michigan in Economics and Political Science. Rae was involved for many years in politics in Michigan and was later in Development for the St Joseph Mercy Health System in Southeastern Michigan. She is currently the Director of Development for WCPE.

Stu Pattison

Stu has been a volunteer announcer for WCPE since January 2001, and is currently on the WCPE staff as a database administrator. He got his start in broadcasting in 1960 at Cornell University, at the student run commercial classical music station, WVBR-FM. Stu is retired from a career as an electrical engineer and quality assurance engineer in electronics manufacturing. He worked with NC state government helping to implement Total Quality principles and improve internal processes and reporting. He was recently active as an examiner for North Carolina Awards for Excellence, a program run by North Carolina State University based on the Malcolm Baldrige business performance criteria. He lives with his wife and two cats in Wake Forest.

Tara Lynn

Tara has always been drawn to educational opportunities. As soon as she received her BA in Anthropology from UNC-Chapel Hill, she became a personal trainer. She moved on to work as a teaching assistant in a Durham County elementary school where, for her first year, she worked in a second grade inclusive class. Her second year at that school was spent as an auxiliary physical education teacher, which allowed her to write her own lesson plans and introduce new ideas into the standard curriculum for grades K-5. While she was there, she also won a grant to purchase new equipment for the students. Tara also worked as a private nanny and a customer service representative for Oxford University Press before coming to WCPE in 2005. She worked overnights, hosting “Sleepers, Awake!” for several years before accepting the position of Community Liaison and host for “Allegro!”

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